Judges:

Bill Cahan
Founder, Cahan & Associates
Bill Cahan, Founder, Creative Director, possesses a unique ability for honing in on a singular, emotional truth that makes people care. For over 20 years, He has managed to consistently peel away the marketing and expose the kernel of truth within. Cahan's passion for fresh thinking is reflected in his team's commitment to doing hours and hours of research before a single design layout is attempted. It's the kind of in-depth analysis that clients often wish they had the time to do themselves--and it uncovers creative paths that are unique, original and quite often groundbreaking. Bill Cahan has been featured on CNN and CNBC, is the subject of a book released by Princeton Architectural Press, entitled "I am almost always hungry", has lectured extensively throughout the world, has garnered over 2700 awards for design excellence, and has been featured in the permanent collections of the cooper hewitt national design museum, the Chicago athenaeum museum of architecture and design, the library of congress, museum fur kunst und gewerbe and the sf moma.

Mia Hanak
Founding Executive Director, Natural World Museum
Mia Hanak has been nominated as the “Iconic Museum Leader of the Next Generation” by the American Association of Museums. The combination of her well-rounded academic background, professional experience, and worldly perspective, tied in with being a thirty-something year old woman in a leadership position, brings a new spark to the museum industry. Ms. Hanak has been working in the museum industry for the past 15 years. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1996 with B.A. Degrees in Art History and Cultural Anthropology and from Tufts University in Medford, Mass. in 2001 with a Masters Degree in Museum Studies, with an emphasis on Museum Management and Exhibition Design. Mia sparked her interest in museums, natural history, and environmental art through exhibitions and events she planned and executed while working at the UCSB Art Museum, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, the Revolving Museum in Boston, and while planning world-class exhibitions at art galleries for world renowned wildlife artists such as Robert Bateman. Mia Hanak is also an author, currently writing a personal novel, a story about her travels through over 40 countries throughout Africa, Asia, India, Oceana, Europe, and the Middle East. Her travels are what inspired her to dedicate her life to taking action in protecting diminishing natural habitats and cultures.

Spike Jonze

SPIKE JONZE started out shooting skateboarding photographs and videos, and went on to make music videos for the Beastie Boys, Bjork, Weezer, and Fat Boy Slim, among others. His videos have been nominated for dozens of MTV Video Music Awards, including three wins for Best Director.

His first film was Being John Malkovich, with John Malkovich, Cameron Diaz and Catherine Keener, and was nominated for 3 Academy Awards®. His second film, Adaptation, with Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper, was nominated for 4 Academy Awards®, with a Best Supporting Actor win for Chris Cooper. After introducing Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman, he & Charlie produced Michel's first feature film, Human Nature, from a script Charlie had written.

Although most of his time is devoted to developing and directing films, he also spends his time on other interests ranging from creating and producing the Jackass tv shows and movies, to directing a day in the life video portrait of Al Gore for his 2000 Presidential campaign. In 1999, he co-starred in Three Kings, directed by David Russell.

Spike still directs skate videos for a skateboard company that he & his friends started in 1993, called Girl Skateboards and Chocolate. Girl's last full-length video, Yeah Right, was one of the top selling skate videos of all time.

Currently, he's working on Where the Wild Things Are, on which he collaborated with Maurice Sendak and co-wrote with Dave Eggers. In addition, he is producing longtime friend and collaborator, Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York.

He has fake teeth.

Alex Steffen
Co-Founder, World Changing
Alex Steffen has been the Executive Editor of World Changing since he co-founded the organization in 2003, as the next phase in a lifetime of work exploring ways of building a better future. In a very short time, World Changing has become the most widely read sustainability-related publication on the Internet, with an archive of over 7,000 articles by leading thinkers around the world. It's played an important role in revealing formerly obscure innovations and groundbreaking ideas, thereby pushing forward the sustainability movement and assisting in the growth of its network. World Changing has also been integral in garnering major support for important causes, such as the post-Tsunami relief effort, for which World Changing raised $150,000 in partnership with Architecture for Humanity. The critically acclaimed site won the Utne Independent Press Award in 2004, and was nominated for Webby's (the Oscars of the Net) for Best Blog and Best Magazine, as well as for Bloggies for Best Writing and Best Group Weblog.

Neville Wakefield
Writer and Curator, New York
Neville Wakefield is a writer and commentator on contemporary art, culture and photography. He currently is a senior curatorial advisor for PS1 MoMA and the curator of Frieze Projects at the Frieze Art Fair. He most recently organized the celebration of designer Adam Kimmel at Pitti Immagine Uomo held in Florence. His shows Kris Martin and Adel Abessemed: Dead or Alive, two solo exhibitions are on view until January 2008 at MOMA/PS1 in New York. He collaborated as the guest editor with W Magazine on their annual Arts Edition, released November 2007. He regularly writes for Artforum, Another Magazine, The Journal, and Art in America, British and Italian Vogue.

Midori Willoughby
Producer, kontentreal films
After a dozen years of managing media and advertising projects at agencies and technology companies in both New York and San Francisco, Midori joined kontentreal films as a producer of strategic entertainment. She has been involved in the development of the ongoing television series, e2: the economies of being environmentally conscious, from its earliest stages and recently oversaw kontentreal's participation in the American Film Institute's Digital Content Lab. The lab process produced "The Green Map for Living," a prototype multi-platform community incorporating content from the e2 series. e2 is currently in its third season of production and airs on PBS and internationally. Midori's past experience includes new media and traditional work for technology companies such as Microsoft, CNET & AltaVista. She lives and works in San Francisco.